Defense in Sandusky sex trial could wrap up Wednesday

(Reuters) - The defense in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case could wrap up its case on Wednesday after days of testimony that included the former football coach's wife saying she never saw anything sexual between him and a child.

The high-profile case that rocked Penn State is racing to a close, with the jury of seven women and five men expected to start deliberations by the end of the week.

Sandusky, a former Penn State defensive coordinator, is charged in Centre County Court with 51 counts of abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period, including some at university locker rooms. He faces more than 500 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Sandusky' wife of 45 years, Dottie, testified on Tuesday that she had never seen anything inappropriate in her husband's behavior with children.

Several of the accusers, known in court papers as Victims 1 to 10, have testified they stayed overnight numerous times in the basement of Sandusky's home, where he would molest them.

But Dottie Sandusky said that children would sleep overnight as guests perhaps only once or twice a month.

Asked by the defense about the men, now aged 18 to 28, who are accusing her husband, Dottie Sandusky described most of them as pleasant boys when she knew them.

But she described Victim 4, who led off prosecution testimony, as "very demanding ... he didn't listen a lot."

She also denied testimony by Victim 4 of an alleged sexual encounter with Sandusky while on a trip to the 1999 Alamo Bowl in Texas.

Testimony on Tuesday included a psychologist for the defense, Dr. Elliot Atkins, who said Sandusky suffered from histrionic personality disorder. The condition is characterized by emotionalism and attention-seeking, with inappropriate displays of sexual affection, he said.

But a psychiatrist for the prosecution, Dr. John O'Brien, disputed the finding. He said Sandusky was too high-functioning to have the disorder.

The Sandusky case has focused renewed attention on the issue of child sexual abuse and prompted the firing in November of Penn State President Graham Spanier and legendary head football coach Joe Paterno. Paterno died of lung cancer in January.

The prosecution presented witnesses last week who gave often-graphic accounts of abuse ranging from groping and bearhugs in Penn State showers to anal and oral sex.

It was unclear whether Sandusky would testify as the trial entered its final stages.

Judge John Cleland has told jurors he expects the defense to conclude around midday on Wednesday, followed by a prosecution rebuttal. The two sides will give closing arguments on Thursday.

Recovery risks may prompt Fed action

(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve may feel compelled on Wednesday to launch a new round of monetary stimulus, with signs the recovery is flagging and threatened by economic storm clouds abroad.

Many economists expect the Fed to extend a program aimed at pushing down longer-term interest rates to shield the still fragile economy, which faces rising financial strains in Europe, a year-end fiscal showdown in Washington and a sharp slowdown in hiring by U.S. employers.

"The prevailing bias at the Fed is very much tilted toward providing more accommodation," said Eric Green, global head of rates research and strategy at TD Securities in New York.

An extension of "Operation Twist," in which the central bank sells bonds with maturities of three years or less and buys securities with maturities of six years and longer, is seen as a less extreme step than outright purchases of new securities. The Fed concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday that is its last policy gathering before Twist expires at the end of this month.

Another option for the U.S. central bank would be to push back its estimate for when it will finally raise overnight interest rates, which have been held near zero since December 2008. After its meeting in April, it said it expected to keep them "exceptionally low" through at least late 2014.

TAKING OUT INSURANCE

Many economists argue that a move to provide more monetary accommodation is a necessary adjustment to disappointing economic developments, and Fed Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen has said it might make sense to "insure" against downside risks.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, however, declined to tip his hand in testimony to Congress earlier this month, and economists are closely divided over whether the central bank will act at this meeting. A Reuters poll on June 8 put the chances of an extension of Operation Twist at 42.5 percent.

Even though Greek voters over the weekend supported candidates who back taking painful steps to stay in the euro currency union, Europe's debt crisis remains a threat to the global economy. Spain on Tuesday paid a euro-era record price to sell short-term debt.

"I don't think this provides (Fed officials) with much relief," former Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said of the vote in Greece. "As we're seeing ... tensions in the euro area remain pretty intense."

U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday after four days of gains, ahead of the critical Fed decision. U.S. Treasuries prices slipped, and the euro edged higher against the dollar on speculation of more Fed stimulus.

Other central banks are warily eyeing economic conditions.

Europe's debt crisis made some Bank of Japan officials signal readiness in May to ease policy again, minutes of the central bank's meeting showed. For the same reason, the Bank of England also appears to be moving toward more bond purchases.

China cut benchmark rates on June 7, while the European Central Bank could take action at its July 5 meeting.

Fed policymakers will weigh not only the situation in Europe, but evidence from labor, manufacturing and housing reports that U.S. growth has faltered.

Procter & Gamble, the world's largest household product maker, on Wednesday cut its growth forecasts due to slower growth in China and tough markets in Europe and the United States.

Policymakers at the U.S. central bank are worried the recovery could be damaged further if politicians fail to resolve differences over automatic tax increases and spending cuts due to kick in at the end of the year.

The U.S. recession ended in 2009, but the economy has failed to recoup lost jobs and wealth, leading to a widespread sense of malaise.

With lawmakers locked in partisan positions ahead of elections that will determine control of the White House and Congress, the Fed is the only institution in a position to boost economic growth.

EYES ON JOBS

Top Fed officials have made clear that they would need to see the painfully high U.S. jobless rate continue to recede to stay on the sidelines. In May it actually rose to 8.2 percent.

Officials are likely to downgrade their economic projections, which will be released at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT). Bernanke will follow with a news conference at 2:15 p.m. (1815 GMT).

Most observers expect any extension of Operation Twist to include mortgage-backed securities for the first time, both to give a boost to the slow-recovering housing market and to expand the scope of the central bank's arsenal. Analysts estimate the Fed has $160 billion to $190 billion in Treasury securities of three years and less to sell, an amount some see as too small to have much of an impact on interest rates.

Economists agree that the most potent weapon would be outright purchases of new securities, perhaps a combination of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. While a few think the Fed may take this route on Wednesday, many others believe officials would first want to see clearer signs the recovery was in trouble.

Bernanke will try to herd policymakers with a range of views toward a single consensus. Some favor immediate action, others think the Fed has done enough - if not too much - already.

In marshalling support, he will be aided by the presence of two new members of the Fed's board, investment banker Jerome Powell and economist Jeremy Stein. While not much is known about their monetary policy views, past experience suggests they will be solidly aligned with the chairman at least through the early stages of their tenure. (Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Facebook stock's bad start reins in short sellers

(Reuters) - Facebook's weak stock market debut has a potential silver lining for the social media giant - some short sellers may have been scared off.

About 8.1 percent of the 421 million shares in the initial public offering were sold short as of May 31, about two weeks after its trading debut, according to a Reuters analysis of exchange data.

That percentage is lower than for Pandora Media Inc, LinkedIn Corp, Angie's List Inc and Groupon Inc - half of the other Internet companies that went public in the past year. And Google Inc, with which Facebook is often compared, attracted a much higher short interest in the first couple of weeks after its IPO in 2004.

Short sellers borrow stock and then sell it, betting that it will decline in value and that they can then buy it back more cheaply.

Facebook had a tough first few weeks of trading. Its debut was marred by technical glitches on Nasdaq and reports that analysts at top underwriters reduced their revenue and earnings forecasts only days before the offering. Its shares rose only 23 cents on opening day and in subsequent days fell as low as $25.52, 33 percent below the $38 offer price.

But short sellers, after initially sensing a chance to profit from negative market sentiment and Facebook's rich valuation, may have backed off as the shares plunged.

"The opportunity to make money on short selling is greatest when a stock is overvalued," said Jay Ritter, a University of Florida IPO expert who reviewed Reuters' analysis. When the price falls, it signals "time to take profits" because "the possibility of a further decline becomes smaller."

Among the companies that were more heavily shorted, LinkedIn's shares soared as much as 173 percent above their offer price on their first day; Groupon, 56 percent; Pandora Media, 62 percent; and Angie's List, 44 percent.

Facebook's stock price gain in the first few minutes of trading was limited to 18 percent before the decline set in.

DOESN'T MAKE SENSE

Steve Spencer began shorting Facebook at $32 per share the Tuesday after the public offering, but has since stopped. Indeed, Facebook's shares have recovered in the past two weeks to trade around $32 on Tuesday.

"The risk/reward doesn't make sense to me right now," said Spencer, who co-heads SMB Capital, a proprietary trading shop in New York. "If people wanted to make a bet on the short side, they were doing it in the mid-30s."

To be sure, in terms of the raw number of shares shorted, Facebook's initial short bets in the first two weeks of trading are bigger than those of any Internet company listing in the past year.

More than 34 million shares were sold short as of May 31, the latest date for which the data is available. But the figure is not surprising, given the size of Facebook's offering.

Some small investors have kept their Facebook shares, hoping they will bounce back.

"I didn't think it would do this badly," said Tony Allen, a Detroit real estate entrepreneur who bought 50 shares on the day of the offering at $42 and has watched his investment sink in value. He said he was holding on in the hopes of a "turnaround."

A Facebook spokesman declined to comment.

SHORTING COST SOARS

Initially, short sellers' demand for Facebook shares was so high it forced another barometer of bearish investor activity to skyrocket. The annual interest rate charged on the value of borrowed Facebook shares soared to more than 40 percent initially, said David Lewis, senior vice president at Astec Analytics, which tracks stock borrowing costs.

"Anything over 1 percent you consider to be quite special, and this was 40 percent," Lewis said. The interest rate has fallen quickly since and is now at around 0.6 percent, indicating a lot more stock is available for borrowing.

Reuters gauged the degree of shorting activity for stock listings similar to Facebook by calculating the percentage of their publicly listed shares that had been sold short following their IPO. Reuters' data comes from the stock exchanges, which publish short interest reports every two weeks, or for older listings, every month. Reports closest to IPO date were used for the analysis.

It is unclear what the short interest says about the stock's long-term prospects. "Outside of IPOs, almost all of the research indicates that short selling is a negative signal," said Ben Blau, a financeprofessor at Utah State University.

But IPOs are harder to call. Not every company that attracts a high degree of bearish investor sentiment ends up performing poorly.

For example, search engine Google attracted short bets that amounted to about 21 percent of its publicly listed shares shortly after its August 2004 offering - nearly triple that of Facebook. Yet from the beginning, Google defied the shorts: Priced at $85, its shares opened at $100, doubled by January 2005 and closed above $300 six months later - a level they have rarely breached since then. Google's stock was trading on Tuesday at around $582.

During the dotcom boom in the late 1990s, many stocks had higher early short interest levels than Facebook. They include companies that went on to thrive, like eBay Inc, as well as some that collapsed, such as Pets.com.

BORROWING INCREASE

The latest data from Astec opens up the possibility that short investors may have increased their negative bets on Facebook.

Astec estimates there are currently about 52.1 million Facebook shares on loan. That is up from 34.3 million on May 31, about the same as the shares reported short as of that date. If most of the shares now on loan are again shorted, it would indicate that Facebook's short interest could be as high as 12.4 percent.

White House asserts executive privilege in Holder case

WASHINGTON | Wed Jun 20, 2012 10:59am EDT

(Reuters) - The Obama administration on Wednesday asserted executive privilege, refusing to provide documents to a committee of the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives about a failed gun-running investigation.

The White House move came in response to a planned vote by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for withholding the documents. The panel's chairman, Republican Darrell Issa, vowed to press on with the contempt charge.

"I write now to inform you that the president has asserted executive privilege over relevant ... documents," Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote to the committee.

Executive privilege allows the White House to argue that some private communications between the president and members of his administration cannot be divulged to Congress.

"This untimely assertion by the Justice Department falls short of any reason to delay today's proceedings," Issa said.

If the House panel votes to charge Holder with contempt, it would then be up to the full House to decide whether to bring that charge against the nation's top law enforcement officer.

The process could take months or even years of court battles and further poison the political atmosphere in a presidential election year.

For months, the committee and the Justice Department have been in negotiations over documents related to federal law enforcement's handling of the "Fast and Furious" probe of guns heading from the United States into Mexico and then being used by Mexican drug cartels.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Bill Maher maybe crazy from time to time but, you can not help to agree with him about vacations. You can not tell me you would not be a better worker if you had these types of benefits to look forward to. Just watch the video and tell me your opinion on it.

The unidentified circular object that has held the world in a viral grip for a year probably isn't an alien spacecraft after all.

Over the past few days, divers have photographed the unusual anomaly on the seabed nearly 300 feet below the surface.

According to news released Friday by the OceanX treasure hunters who discovered the anomaly on June 19, 2011, "first they thought it was just stone or a rock cliff, but after further observations, the object appeared more as a huge mushroom, rising 10-13 feet from the seabed, with rounded sides and edges.

"The object had an egg-shaped hole leading into it from the top, as an opening. On top of the object they also found strange stone circle formations, almost looking like small fireplaces. The stones were covered in something resembling soot," reports theOceanX website.

Baltic Sea UFO Turns Out Not To Be A UFO.

One of the OceanX divers, Stefan Hogeborn, a veteran of more than 6,000 dives in his 20-year career, is completely puzzled by what he saw.

"I have never seen anything like this. Normally stones don't burn. I can't explain what we saw, and I went down there to answer questions, but I came up with even more questions," Hogeborn said.

The first pictures of the Baltic Sea object have been published by the Swedish newspaper Expressen, which reported the "images show that the circle consists of several blocks formed by 'rolls' or 'mushrooms' that are attached to each other, forming the circle."

On another dive, a sledgehammer was used to obtain samples of the material. "Since we did not get any answers to the questions we asked ourselves, we have brought this to the experts who may be looking at the pieces we brought up," said Hogeborn.

What does the Baltic Sea UFO look like close-up?

UFOs? Maybe They're Just..

1 of 13

Expressen.se / YouTube

On-site researchers are still scratching their heads at the photographic evidence.

Treasure hunters Peter Lindberg and Dennis Asberg first discovered the jumbo jet-sized object -- variously described as disc-shaped, circular and cylindrical -- using side-scan sonar. When images and videos were released on the Internet, the story quickly went viral and speculation took off as to the identity of the object, which resembles the fictitious Millennium Falcon spacecraft from the "Star Wars" movies.

"We need to explore what we have found," Lindberg, captain of the Ocean Explorer,said on the treasure hunters' website. "Media has been speculating about everything from UFOs to Russian space ships, and the time has come to find out what the sonar image actually is."

Isn't it also about time that we all agree to refer to the anomaly as a USO, instead of UFO? USO, as in Unidentified Submerged Object. Because, in reality, nobody knows if this thing was ever in the air, flying, right?

"It was originally claimed to be a perfectly round disc, and of course, that's one of the things that made it a mystery," said Benjamin Radford, deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer magazine. "If it's a spaceship, as some have suggested, it must be almost entirely buried in the ocean floor," Radford told The Huffington Post.

On June 11, UFO-Blogger.com posted this message from expedition co-leader Asberg: "Everything is top secret now ... because of the risks ... hope you all understand this is no game. But the truth will be reported shortly."

Now that the team has almost certainly revealed that the mushroom-shaped anomaly is not from another planet, they're still not exactly sure what it is.

"First we thought this was only stone, but this is something else," said Lindberg on theOceanX website. "And since no volcanic activity has ever been reported in the Baltic Sea, the find becomes even stranger.

"As laymen, we can only speculate how this is made by nature, but this is the strangest thing I have ever experienced as a professional diver."

Clarification: The headline of the initial version of this story gave the impression that the Baltic Sea anomaly is an actual mushroom. The story correctly quoted the on-site investigators who described the submerged object appearing like a mushroom. As this story progresses and analysis is conducted on samples of the undersea object, updates will be forthcoming.

A new species of crustacean has been discovered in the underwater mountains off the northwest coast of Spain, scientists recently announced.

The squat lobster is orange and a little over 2 inches (5 centimeters) long. Squat lobsters are more closely related to porcelain and hermit crabs than true lobsters.

It was discovered at a depth of 4,626 feet (1,410 meters) in August 2011 by the INDEMARES research group and lives among deep corals and sea fans, according to a study published in the March issue of the journal Zootaxa.

The shy crustaceans are abundant in submarine mountains in areas that haven't been heavily fished; the corals and sea fans amid which they live tend to disappear in trawling zones, researchers said in a statement.

Given the scientific name Uroptychus cartesi, the species' closest relative can be found in the Caribbean Sea, and both species likely have a shared ancestor "who invaded the Atlantic from the Pacific and Indian Ocean a few million years ago," said study co-author Enrique Macpherson, a researcher at Spain's Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes.

The squat lobsters are homebodies and do not spread far, since their larvae spend only a few days in the free-swimming planktonic stage. They feed on smaller crustaceans and particulate matter.

The crustcean is different from other European species mainly because of its shape and the number of thorns on its shell.

Researchers named it after the scientist Joan Cartes, from Barcelona's Institute of Marine Sciences, who was the first to notice that something about these creatures looked different.

The six specimens captured were handed over to Barcelona's Institute of Marine Sciences and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

The few plants that live in Antarctica today are hardy hangers-on, growing just a few weeks out of the year and surviving poor soil, lack of rain and very little sunlight. But long ago, some parts of Antarctica were almost lush.

New research finds that between about 15 million and 20 million years ago, plant life thrived on the coasts of the southernmost continent. Ancient pollen samples suggest that the landscape was a bit like today's Chilean Andes: grassy tundra dotted with small trees.

This vegetated period peaked during the middle Miocene, when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were around 400 to 600 parts per million. (Today, driven by fossil fuel use, atmospheric carbon dioxide has climbed to 393 parts per million.)

As a result, global temperatures warmed.

Antarctica followed suit. During this period, summer temperatures on the continent were 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) warmer than today, researchers reported June 17 in the journal Nature Geoscience.

"When the planet heats up, the biggest changes are seen toward the poles," study researcher Jung-Eun Lee, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. "The southward movement of rain bands made the margins of Antarctica less like a polar desert and more like present-day Iceland." [Ice World: Amazing Glaciers]

NASA researchers, along with scientists from the University of Southern California and Louisiana State University, collected long cores of sediment from below Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf. Within the sediment, they found plant-leaf wax, an indication of ancient vegetation. The cores also contained pollen and algae.

A pollen grain from modern-day southern beech trees that grow in New Zealand. Ancient Antarctica would have hosted similar trees.

An analysis of the leaf wax provided a record of the water taken up by the plants when they lived. Researchers could then track variations in the hydrogen molecules in the water, called isotopes. Because isotopes vary over time and over certain environmental conditions, these variations allowed the researchers to reconstruct what the climate would have looked like when this water fell as rain.

If current carbon emissions continue as they are, atmospheric carbon is set to reach middle Miocene levels by the end of the century. The northern Antarctic Peninsula has already warmed by 4.5 degrees F (2.5 degrees C) over the last 50 years, and satellite views reveal melting ice shelves.

The ancient Antarctic sediment could provide a vision of what is to come, said study leader Sarah Feakins, an earth scientist at the University of Southern California.

"Just as history has a lot to teach us about the future, so does past climate," Feakins said in a statement. "What this record shows us is how much warmer and wetter it can get around the Antarctic ice sheet as the climate system heats up."